The Arkansaw traveler., 1887-08-20
Dave Baxter and Tom Hogaboom.
 Alex Sweet in Texns SiftinOs

Alex Sweet in Texas siftings.
 Had nice time of it at the cattle mems convention?"
 "Yes, purity nice. My bar bill was only seventy-five dollars day, but I had pretty fair time of it."
 "Saw your friend, Tom Hogaboom, I suppose?"
 "Y-e-s, I sorter saw him."
 'I expect you had pretty good time, swapping war experience, and the hke?"
 "I saw Tom Hogaboom, but he didn't recognize me-"
 "Perhaps he didn't see you"
 "Yes, he saw me, but didn't recog- nize him."
 "I don't quite catch on."
 The foregoing conversation occurred between Dave Baxter, western Texas stockman. and Sam Bennett, a San Antonio grocer, in the back part of the latter's store
 "I'll just tell you how it happened, Sam," said Baxter. "As you know, I didn't go to St. Louis to attend the cattle mems convention as much as I did to S e my old friend and chum, Tom Iiogaboom. Tom and me were almost raised together in Georgia. Our fathers farms joined. We be- longed to the same regiment during the war, and drank outer the same can teen. He saved my life at the battle of the Wilderness. After the war we drifted apart I came to Texas, and now Tve got about 25,000 head of cat tie, I reckon"
 "Ies; one of your neighbors told me that you branded more mavericks than any five men in western Texas" said Sam Bennett.
 "He was jokin', Sam. But as I was telling you, 1 came to Texas and raised cattle, and IIogaboom went to St. Louis, and now he is one of the lead ing lawyers and politicians. We haven't seed each other sence the break-up, but we have often writ so I thought I'd go on to St. Louis while the cattle men were in convention and kill two birds with one stone; so I went on to St. Louis. As soon as I SOb Il OtONC llO IO HIS llOuSC, dS he had writ me to do."
 "He was glad to see you, suppose?"
 "He wasn't at home, but his wife was very friendly, and told me that she expected her husband home pretty soon. He had to attend a meeting of the bar. We'll, he didn't come home till eleven o'clock that night. In fact, bo HiHn3f onr1a hoYoo o+ oli Co~oo 2 his friends brought him home in hack. saw that he didn't recognize me. He was too drunk. He told me to give hlm five dollars worth of chips"
 "Hogaboom must have taken you for Q lumber dealer when he asked you for chips," remarked Sam Bennett, in- nocently.
 "He mistook me for some kind of a dealer" continued Baxter. "Next morning when wanted to see Hoga- boom, Mrs. Hogaboom told me that he was fast asleep, so thought would stroll down to the cattle mems con- vention. l got to talking about the national cattle trail, and the like.
 That was the day my bar bill amounted to only seventy-five I don't remember very well how I got back to Hogaboom's house, but I got there. Hogaboom was waiting to see me. He was sober as judge, but I was too tight to recognize him. He was mighty affectionate to mo SO his wife told me, but l kept on calling Mr. Barkeep."
 Didn't you two ever get sober enough to recognize each other?"
 70, yes, but not at the same time. After we had kept that up for a couple of days, l got a telegram sayin' the fence cutters were at work on my pasture fence, so I lit out for home without ever gettin' a chance to have a sociable talk with Tom Hogaboom."
 "Ruddygore's" Successor.